


Hard Reset

by LonlyWanderer



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon up to season 5 episode 18, F/F, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Time Travel Fix-It, as far as the main characters know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-10 00:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18649198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonlyWanderer/pseuds/LonlyWanderer
Summary: After discovering Nora's deception, Barry looks back through his actions and comes to a conclusion, one which may shake up the multiverse, but maybe it's all for the best? God I suck as summaries, this will probably be changed in the future.





	Hard Reset

LW: So, this fic is inspired by a good few SnowBarry fics I’ve been reading, as well as Consequences by prismdreams for a starting point. Hope everyone enjoys

 

Hard Reset

 

Most likely due to anger, Barry was a little preoccupied to notice rather than resist Nora speed walked with him and then willingly entered and sat down in the cell provided to her. Now he was sitting in the speed lounge, trying to work through his current emotional state

 

“Barry” he groans, what about him zipping away after dropping his traitor of a daughter in the pipeline made anyone think he wanted to talk, wanted any form of company, if he wanted to discuss things he’d have returned to the cortex, where at least at the moment he passed it by Sherlock was getting chewed out by Caitlin, or Frost, (he couldn’t tell all he heard was yelling with Caitlin’s accent) about him ham fistedly revealing Nora’s secret “You can’t just run off like that, she’s our daughter, just because she’s made a mistake doesn’t mean you can treat her like the criminals you guys have been catching”

 

“Made a mistake? She’s working with Thawne, from the beginning, given the size of the journal she’s been working with him the entire time she’s been here with us. She knows who he is, what he did to her Grandmother and she still worked with him (In her defence, she didn’t find out about the whole killing Nora until just before the Crossover, and almost immediately after that she went to the future and confronted him about it, before realising he was still her best chance of actually surviving this crap)” Barry shouts, rounding on Iris who jumps back “Thawne ruined my family, lead to your former fiancé killing himself to try take him out, which failed because time needs to not collapse in on itself, lead the Nazi’s to our wedding and tried rip out my friends heart and because he’s from the future, I know, I’ve always known he was going to show up again, I just wish he hadn’t turned my daughter against me to do it. So tell me how working for that monster isn’t so bad, keeping that working relationship hidden for nearly a year, especially when she knows how damaging keeping a secret in your family is?”

 

“Exactly, she’s our daughter, we need to talk about this, you can’t just I don’t know act impulsive and send her back to the future without even telling me”

 

“This isn’t about you”

 

“Of course not, it’s about Nora”

 

“Yes, but you make everything about you, even when it’s not, you need to put yourself in the middle of everything. I’m not sure how I never noticed, maybe it’s just become more obvious in recent years, making yourself the Boss of Team Flash, when you don’t even do Felicity’s job for the team and everyone knows Oliver is boss of Team Arrow, the whole ‘We are the Flash’ thing, going after Cicada alone like you’re some kind of immortal goddess” Barry groans, running his fingers through his hair “I, I can’t do this, I need to clear my head, figure out what I really want in the world. Go home Iris, I don’t want to talk to anyone”

 

“Bar…” she starts but he’s already gone, doing a few laps of the city before relocating to the Speed Lab and running till his legs were about ready to give out, loosing himself in the hum of the lightning in his veins. Coming off the circuit he was surprised to not be the only person here, Caitlin Snow had just entered the Speed Lab

 

“What are you still doing here Cait?” Barry asks, the cryo shrugs and smiles

 

“Getting Nora food, she may be in the Pipeline and that stops her escaping, but she still has a speedster’s metabolism. No reason to let her starve just because she’s in the doghouse, then I had to check on you, I remember you passing out a few times the first year from not taking care of yourself” she explains, which actually makes Barry smile the first time that day, of course Caitlin would be taking care of him and Nora no matter what, the time jumping Speedster actually connected with her better than Iris at times (Which had annoyed the other woman that first couple months), to the point he had thought she’d had a bit of a crush on the biologist (Nora told him about her sexuality after the Spin incident, partly because while Papa Joe had told her he’d be fine with it she had to make sure he wasn’t ashamed of her, as well as the fact she’d never actually come out to him in her time line), until she explained it was more familial than sexual, something Caitlin thought too, seeing Nora as a little sister, even Frost saw her as a ‘ _more fun_ ’ Caity, which amused him, Joe, Cisco and Ralph, as well as turning the speedster into a blushing mess.

 

“How do you do it? Act like nothing happened, she betrayed us, she’s been working with Thawne the entire time” Barry asks, trying not to sound angry with her, though she could probably sense his frustration

 

Caitlin sighs before answering “I’m not sure, probably because I’ve been here before, being the one to find her the last time something in the future made people angry with her, holding her close as she cried like the little girl who’s still just waiting for her daddy to come home and tell her everything’s going to be okay. I’m aware she deserves your anger a lot more this time, I’m not going to argue with you there, but once again she’s not even been given a chance to tell her side, thanks to Sherlock being an asshole. Plus we don’t exactly have a moral high ground when it comes to asking Wellsabard for help, you’ve done it at least twice since finding out the monster he is and for good reason, Zoom needed to be beaten, Cicada needed to be beaten. All this means, is Nora thinks exactly like her dad” Barry is self aware enough to blush slightly, as always Caitlin had a point, she was always there making sure he wasn’t doing stupid shit like this, and usually not even getting a thanks for it.

 

Barry chuckles, then explains at her confused look “Sorry, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how things ended up the way they did, and among other things I realised, I’m fucking blind. I was so hung up on Iris, saving Iris, marrying Iris, being the man Iris needed, I didn’t see what was right in front of me” he runs his fingers through his hair, this wasn’t the best time to have this realisation, but that’s how his live has always worked, piss poor timing and pain “I’m, about to do something monumentally stupid, but before I do, I need to make sure it’s worth the effort and the pain” he steps forward and kisses her lightly, stepping back only for Caitlin to pull him back and make him kiss her properly. They pull away panting a few minutes later

 

“That was intense”

 

“For a speedster you took your time Flash” Barry looks up, though he already knew from the snark, and seeing the glowing eyes knew Frost was teasing him “If your name wasn’t practically burned into our hearts, I’d have tried get Caity to get over you ages ago” she reaches out, running her cold fingers through his hair “Have to say though, you’re worth the wait” she smiles and lets Caitlin take command again, her skin warms to human level once more.

 

“I really hope there’s more to your plan, no matter how stupid you think it is, because I will not be anyone’s side bitch, you even think about it and Iris’ favourite toy gets permanent Frostbite” she hisses, but Barry just pulls her close, the cryokinetic ironically melts into his embrace, always has, always will.

 

“Don’t worry Cait, I’m putting things right, I guess I just needed to know how you felt so I knew if there was any chance of my plan working, I wasn’t going to hurt myself like that for nothing” Caitlin’s eyes shoot open when she realises what he’s going to do

 

“Seriously Barry, haven’t you done enough damage with that?”

 

“I have to fix my mistakes, wish me luck”

 

Caitlin rolls her eyes but smiles sweetly “Good luck my lightning idled moron” she teases as he runs off

 

Even if he was about to change things he couldn’t just walk away from his kid no matter how mad he was with her, so before attempting to enter the Speedforce he stopped by Nora’s cell, surprised to see her standing their smiling at him as he entered the area “Well, took your time to make your choice, saying goodbye or something?” she asks, looking amused

 

“How do you know what I’m doing, and why are you so happy about me going back in time?” Barry asks, adding confusion to the pile of other emotions “Shouldn’t you be worried I might end up erasing you from the timeline?”

 

Nora chuckles, pulling a pen from her pocket as well as her necklace from her shirt, a ring hanging from it and glowing softly “Oh Daddy, I shouldn’t be here anyway, all you’re doing is making it so I can exist.” she chuckles, then presses on the button of the pen, revealing it to be an image inducer, similar to the one HR used to hide himself while he was on Earth 1. The woman standing in front of him was pale with black hair and brown eyes, slightly sharper features and smaller curves “Since you’re about to change my timeline again, might as well let you meet the REAL Nora Allen” she smiles widely, leaning against the wall of her cell

 

Barry frowns “So more lies, was anything you told us true?”

 

Nora nods “Of course it was, I’m still Nora Allen, speedster and daughter of Barry Allen, commonly known as the Flash. I came back to see you, as well as help deal with the problem with Cicada. What I didn’t tell you, was I was trying to restore the timeline so I could return to **MY** future, see my friends again, not the mockeries that are left like Norah and Grace, hopefully bring Morgana, Xander and Mia back while I’m at it. Hell you wouldn’t even be talking to me if not for me having a Legend Ring in my possession” she sighs deeply and runs her fingers along the symbol on the ring, which Barry noticed was that of the Time Bureau.

 

“Legend Ring?”

 

Nora snorts “You think the Time Masters didn’t have safeguards to stop people taking them out while they were fucking with time? The ring, a gift from Aunt Sara, offsets you from the Timeline, so things done to your past self don’t affect you, giving you a chance to fix the damage before the timeline can solidify, in my case it’s getting my birth back on track” she grins widely, wriggling her eyebrows and looking amused and smug

 

Barry sighs “Okay but why not go to the Legends, or Team Flash, why ask for help from Eobard Thawn…” he jumps when Nora slams the door

 

“Because he is the **ONLY speedster who kn _ows what I’m going through_** ” she growls, her eyes glow electric blue, white streaks in her hair frame her sharp features and mist covering her hands.

 

Barry’s eyes widen as he realises what Nora didn’t tell him, who her mother really was, only one woman has powers like this “You have 2 powers” he states more than asks “Iris isn’t your mother, that’s why you don’t exist”

 

The corner of the woman’s lip curls up, lightning flickering all over her body, Barry noticing it was no longer yellow and purple but blue, not Zoom deep blue but a pale, arctic blue “Correct, that’s why what you’re about to do makes me happy, I can finally slow down, Superconductor can stop running” she says with a deep sigh

 

Despite the seriousness Barry snorts “A Cisco original superhero name?”

 

“Yeah, says it works because I’m the only speedster to go faster in the cold”

 

“Is that why you hated Iris?”

 

“Not entirely, sure she’s kind of the reason I don’t exist, but so is Thawne for toppling the original timeline like a Jenga tower. The other is because of that face, Dawn West-Allen. My ‘ _cover story_ ’ is true, just it’s canon for Earth 12. Might be true for this abortion of a future too, the fuck if I know”

 

Barry frowns as an earlier conversation comes to mind “If that’s true, why did Caitlin find you crying in a corner because of the incident?” he asks, having realised what she meant when he let his mind clear the anger enough to think

 

Nora sighs, her lips turn down to a frown “Because it wasn’t just a cover story, even if it didn’t happen to me, it happened to Dawn, she was a good kid, I’d probably call her a friend as we’ve teamed up a couple times like you did with Kara and Oliver, she didn’t deserve to spend her entire life being lied to by everyone she thought cared about her, and Iris’ reaction to learning about the dampener, it made me realise there was a pretty good chance she would have done it here too, if I was actually still your Earth 1 daughter, Dawn’s past could have been mine” she laughs bitterly “I broke down because of what ifs, how weak is that?”

 

“It’s not weakness, it’s compassion, like you said you’ve met and more importantly know the girl with that face, Dawn, it’s not theoretical to you. Though it doesn’t explain the memory we watched…”

 

Nora smiles and waves it off “The false memory was anger at what Iris could have done if Mom and Mother hadn’t told me the truth, then had Wally and Jessie train me. The real one, Mom was working late, Iris got me from the Flash museum, we had ice cream and she made sure, as she put it, Speedy Jr. wasn’t overtaxing herself. I don’t HATE Iris, I just think she’s a better cool aunt than a mom, like Lois she’s just not built to be one”

 

Barry chuckles “I think Iris can live with being an aunt”

 

“She was good at it” Nora agrees with a smile, then her face turns serious “Dad, after crisis Earth 1 and Earth 38 fuse, also my best friend is a Luthor, so try make sure OG Supergirl doesn’t screw that up for us”

 

Barry nods, a though comes to mind that should help that “You’re giving me a target, you know that right?” she grins “You know, even if I fix this isn’t not going to be the same?”

 

“I’m going back to a timeline where my Grandparents died before my parents got together rather than in my late teens, I know things are going to be different” Nora replies, chuckling when she sees Barry’s face at the idea that Nora knew her grandparents, that his Mom and Dad had both lived long enough to see him become a father before Thawne and Zoom butted in “You know if they could see you now, they’d be so proud of the man you’ve become, just like I’ve always been proud to call you my daddy” that finally broke him, Barry unlocked the cell and let her out, pulling his daughter into a tight hug, subconsciously amused she melts just like her mom to his hug “I’m sorry Daddy, I’m so sorry” she mumbles into his neck

 

“I’m sorry too Nora, I wish I was there for you, I wish I could put things right, but all I can do is my best” Barry replies, into her hair, his tears freezing when they hit her scalp. The moment was ruined when the power flickered and faded, causing both speedsters to separate and stand to attention

 

“That’s Cicada” Barry mutters “she’s back”

 

“I’ll hold her off, get the timeline back on track” Nora orders, now dressed in a full white outfit, her ice forming a half helmet over her eyes and nose, the edges jagged like icicles “Run, Barry Run!” he shoots away and Nora walks down the corridor, meeting Cicada along the way

 

“This ends here” she growls around her mask, pulling her dual blades from her back and spinning them

 

“Correct, _goodbye Grace_ ” she thinks before speeding forward, her ice dagger impaling Cicada’s heart as the knives stab through her, both hitting the ground with a thump

 

Grace grits her teeth, her vision blurs as Nora pulls herself free, the time jumping serial killer surprised when her weapons slide out without even damaging the suit, the speedster vibrating so the attack passed through harmlessly

 

“Goodbye my love” Nora whispers, removing and them crushing the breather, tears in her eyes as she watches the older woman pass “ _Come on dad_ ” she wishes, before speeding away, she needed to leave something in Star City before she got her timeline back on track.

 

_ 2017 _

 

“Lend him a helping hand…” Music Meister hums as he steps through the portal, only to walk into a supersonic fist, tossed around, triple cuffed with dampener cuffs on his arms and legs, the given on last kick to the face, knocking him out

 

“I don’t need your help playing matchmaker” Barry grunts, pulling off his mask “You want me and Kara to sing together, I’ll just invite her to karaoke, maybe we can find out if Frost is a better singer than Caitlin” he jokes to himself, then remembers what’s about to happen, running to the medical lab just in time for J’onn, Alex and … Lena? (Jeez Nora, what did you do?)

 

Clearly his confusion was written on his face as Alex pulled him aside while the Martian put Kara on the bed and the youngest Luthor assisted Caitlin in hooking her up to their machines “Kara’s now ex-boyfriend, turns out he’s the prince of Daxam as well as a lying piece of shit. Her moment of feeling like an absolute moron, made her realise she was doing the same to her best friend by keeping her secret from her the same way Mon-El kept his from her. Lena took it well, turns out Lex knew about Kara the entire time, meaning Lena knew the entire time and was just waiting for Kara to let her in on the secret so to speak. Kara brought her into the DEO in the hopes she can help us send the Daxamites home… when this happened” Alex waves in the direction of the comatose Kara

 

Barry nods “I have 2 ideas, really hope the first one works, cause the 2nd is a bit iffy” he admits, Alex giving him an unimpressed look, followed by a more intimidating ‘You hurt my sister, they’ll never find the body’, watching him charge up lightning in his hands and about to discharge it into her chest when…

 

“Right side, kryptonian hearts are on the right side” Lena squeaks, Barry stops and turns to Caitlin

 

“She’s right, the scans show the heart is on the right side, not quite a mirror given the enlarged size but close enough” she replies, Barry nods and puts both hands on the right side of her chest to give her the full jolt. Kara shudders then returns to default, as if he’d done nothing

 

“Plan A was a defibulator!” Alex shrieks, but Barry ignores her, not wanting to use MM’s method of waking her up, especially when it had been obvious Kara hadn’t been happy with Mon-El… ‘ ** _Earth 1 and Earth 38 fuse, also my best friend is a Luthor, so try make sure OG Supergirl doesn’t screw that up for us_** ’ he turns to Lena “You’re Lena right, Lena Luthor?” the ravenette bristles, then squares her shoulder and nods

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Wanted to make sure I was talking to the right woman. Now for the important question, what are your feelings towards Kara?”

 

Everyone was confused by the question, though the spluttering and Kara-esque panic cued them in to something important “She’s my best friend, Hell she’s my only friend” Lena finally manages to state, lacking any real enthusiasm

 

“But is that what you want? What Kara wants?” Lena looked confused by the question “The guy who did this, whammied Kara because she wasn’t being honest to herself, about her feelings, she wasn’t letting herself shine and confessing her love to her special someone. I think its you Miss Luthor, you’re the only person who can wake our sleeping beauty” if the fairy tale reference didn’t give her the hint the wiggling eyebrows at least tried to

 

“You want me to? No, there’s no way, nobody can love a Luthor, not like that” Team Flash all felt a stab of pain in their hearts, feeling bad for a woman who’s clearly had her heart broken many times “How do you know she feels the way I do?” she let the mask slip, just for a moment, but it was clear she wanted this to be true

 

“You’re all she talks about, you’re her Laurel… right there isn’t an Oliver Queen on your earth. You’re the other half her soul, her habiti… I’m pretty sure I butchered that kryptonian pronunciation to high heaven, it means…”

 

“Soulmate” Lena translates, her hand shaking, this was actually happening “What do I do?”

 

“What you’ve probably wanted to do for quite some time, kiss her” Barry tells her, the CEO runs a pale hand along Kara’s cheek, before pressing their lips together, no response for the moment, but then the blonde’s eyes open, they open very wide when she realises that yes this is happening, no it isn’t a dream, kiss the girl dumbass, and she returns the kiss, wrapping her arms around her human’s neck to continue the kiss.

 

Alex smiles, punching Barry in the shoulder “Thanks for saving my sister, you’re alright Flash” the redhead says, smiling with misty eyes “Hey Kara, come up for air sometime this year please” she teases, the blond sits up, with a crimson blush a moment later, Lena equally red faced as she chuckles into Kara’s neck

 

“Barry?” Kara hums, confused “What are you doing here? They didn’t drag you all the way to my earth did they?”

 

“No, they brought you to me, and my team. Dr. Snow made sure you were ok before Miss Luthor administered the antidote for Music Meister” Barry explains and jokes, Kara noticing the other pale woman in the room

 

“So you must be… Caitlin, right? Barry’s told me so much about you” she beams, the others chuckling at the look on her face

 

“Anytime Supergirl, it was my pleasure”

 

J’onn then coughs, getting the Earth 38 guys attention “As nice as it is to see you when the world isn’t burning, we really should be heading back, we do have our own earth to keep safe after all” Kara nods and hugs Barry before Cisco opens a breach for the 4 to head home with.

 

“Um Caitlin, I need to talk to you in private” Barry says quietly, as the rest of their team were heading off to wherever “That okay?” she nods and Barry speeds them to the pipeline, it seemed the most quiet place for this

 

“You didn’t need to do that, I could have walked” she jokes, smiling in a way that sets his speedster heart a flutter

 

“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to risk losing my nerve”

 

“Right. So, I hear wedding bells are no longer in store for you and Iris?” Caitlin asks, getting a snort form Barry

 

“If only you knew. Yeah, popping the question really put things in perspective, as well as reminding me that long term commitments won’t help me solve short term problems”

 

“So what did you figure out?”

 

“That I wasn’t in love with Iris, more the idea of her, she had always been part of my life, practically my sister and I had a stupid crush that never truly died, and it nearly destroyed the relationship I have with that woman” he sighs deeply, this was going to be difficult

 

“Anything else?” Caitlin asks, curious

 

“Frost couldn’t kill me, wouldn’t kill me” Barry states flatly, like that water was wet

 

“For the record, dumbest thing to do, taunt the woman threatening to kill you” Caitlin responds with an exasperated sigh

 

“Well, I’d say it proves soulmates can’t hurt each other, but we know the train wreck that was Oliver and Laurel half the time, so that doesn’t quite hold up”

 

“What is it with you and soulmates today?” Caitlin teases, not wanting to think about what his words actually meant

 

“Not my fault Kryptonians pair off like wolves and swans. Besides, I find it easier to say I trust you, both sides of you” Barry admits, sure he was using evidence that hadn’t happened yet, but he was telling the truth, he trusted Caitlin and Frost, both to have his back and be there when he needs them. He just had to work on being good enough for them

 

“You can’t believe that, Killer Frost is a monster” she scowls, a flicker of something in her eyes, most likely self loathing

 

“No she isn’t she’s just another side of Caitlin Snow. And I bet if you 2 could talk she might even turn out to just be a snarky and more kickass version of the wonderful woman in front of me” he smiles and a smirk crosses her face

 

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Flash” Frost purrs, talon like icicles forming on her fingers as she runs them down his cheek “What’s stopping me from killing you right here and now, Caity’s not looking”

 

Barry stands his ground, catching her wrist before her fingers could leave his personal space “Because I love you, both of you, and I promise to be there for you, to help you both through this difficult point in your relationship and find a way for you to get along”

 

Frost hisses, but she can’t deny the sincerity in the man’s eyes “How? How can you believe that bullshit?” she tries to slap him but he catches her other hand easily

 

“Because you’ve never given up on me, so why should I ever give up on you?” he was expecting the subzero smooch, already beginning to vibrate his molecules so he can push heat into his upper body, but it wasn’t needed, Frost’s kiss was cold but not fatally chilled, more like kissing someone who’s been chewing ice cubes, then they heated up and he realised Frost had willingly backed off, the problem being at this point in their partnership that meant Caitlin woke up in the middle of kissing Barry Allen.

 

“Oh my” she mumbles after separating “Was that…”

l

“Good, yeah. You’re a really good kisser Cait”

 

“You’re not so bad yourself Barry. The vibrating against my lips?”

 

“Precaution, Frost looked mad when she lunged, wanted to avoid potential brain freeze”

 

Caitlin chuckles and slaps his chest, then pulled herself close and let him hold her “I think I can do this, try and deal with Frost as a part of me, rather than homicidal cancer, as long as you’re here with me”

 

“I’m not going anywhere, you’re stuck with Frost and me for the foreseeable future” Barry promises, hoping he can do better this time around, the way things were supposed to be

 

END?

 

LW: Well, I think that went well, here’s hoping ;)

 

Nora Allen, played by Adeaide Kane

Dawn Allen, portrayed by Jessica Parker Kennedy


End file.
